Sarah Andersen, Aliana Table (TABLES, CHAIRS, DESKS 2022)

Photos:

"Aliana" Dining Table

'Aliana' is both a nod to the Italian-based design inspiration for this piece and the aluminium elements used in its frame construction. Choosing Australian blackwood boards (from the Mid-North Coast of NSW), carefully matched to highlight the many beautiful colours and tones in the grain of this beautiful timber, the legs and rails have specially routed channels and chiselled angles that allow additional strengthening hardware to be used without interrupting the clean lines and that also serve to cover the bigger welds that shore up the frame system. The frame construction and powder-coating was outsourced while the timber elements and assembly took place in the workshop at Tree-O Gallery in Raleigh, NSW. The frame colour, Intensity Desert, resonates harmoniously with the blackwood. The timber is finished with matt polyurethane, as requested by the client - and their table looks like a perfect match for their new build décor and the chairs they chose to suit the space. Initial inspiration for this piece came via a table my client had seen in a Sydney-based exhibition, entitled ‘Parallel Structure’. Designed by Michael Anastassiades from B&B Italia, Michael’s table obtains its joint strength from a well-hidden internal metal core. I designed Aliana to have a more visible skeleton, resulting in a light-weight dining table that easily seats 8–10 and which satisfied my client’s aesthetic and budgetary requirements. Delivering such a special statement piece to happy clients is always the most rewarding part of making custom furniture and I particularly enjoyed the challenges posed in creating Aliana."

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